3 Ways to get People to Want Something!

There are three things that you need to do to get people to want your services: 1)Make it scarce, 2)show that other people want it and 3) make them work for it.

1)Make it scarce

The services and products that charge the most are the ones that build scarcity into their marketing. We need water more than we need diamonds but water comes a dime a dozen. Another word for scarcity is busy. If you’re in the service business then you need to appear busy whether you are or whether you’re not.

If I call a lawyer and he doesn’t have any cases then the natural assumption is that he isn’t good (although it could be a wrong assumption). The reason is because we look at a small aspect of people’s lives and make inferences on all other aspects. Since this lawyer isn’t busy then I have to assume people don’t hire him because he isn’t a good lawyer. I bet Johnnie Cochran never had a problem getting business. He was too busy for new clients and that is why he got them.

2)Show that other people want it

Imagine you’re driving in a new state and you’re looking for a restaurant. You pass a one that has a huge line which curves all the way around the building into the parking lot. You might not wait in line since you have little patience but you have to be thinking it must be good. Why else would people wait in such a long line for food?

Night clubs do this a lot as well. They make people wait so a line is created and when others drive by the club, they think it must be good since everyone is waiting to get in.

To have the marketing mindset you need to show that other people want your services. That might mean you need to create a client list of all the people you worked with, provide references, and more. But the key is to show that a lot of people are interested in what you do. If you only have two references then that doesn’t tell me how good you are. On the other hand, if you have a list of 2,000 references of people I can call to tell me how good you are then I don’t even need to call. The fact that you have so many already creates credibility.

Marketing is about perceptions. If you can create the perception that other people want what you have, then the natural conclusion is that what you have must be good.

3)Make them work for it

People don’t value free. When you buy a home, you feel special because you have invested a lot to get to that point. When you buy an expensive car you don’t let people lean on it because that car is your baby. When people have to work for something, they value it more.

This work doesn’t have to be physical as in mowing the lawn. This work has to be more about invested time. Are you spending time with them on the phone, email, and in person? Do you send out a contract? Do they have to deposit (invest) a certain amount of money for you to begin working? There are many ways to get other people invested in what you do and the more invested they are then the more they will value your services.

Making people work for it will force them to value it more. You have to dangle possibility in front of them and make sure they can reach it. If you dangle a string in front of a cat without letting him/her grab it then the cat will get bored and find something else.

So those are the three things you need to do to get someone to want something. You have to make it scarce, show that other people want it, and make them work for it. If you can build these into your marketing then you will have a very magnetic service.